



Do you manage a eCommerce website?
Are you facing cart abandonment rates?
High bounce rates?
Or maybe traffic is lower than you anticipated?
Maybe you too feel like this guy...
Anyone who runs an eCommerce business can tell you - it is not as rosy as it is made out to be.
It’s not a done-and-dusted, quick rags-to-riches story!
It is a serious undertaking.
Constant trial and error, testing and improvements are just the beginning.
But that too can be a slippery slope.
SEO & Marketing gurus all give great ideas "in theory"
"delight the customers and surprise them!"
But let's get real...
What if the answer was actually much simpler than you think?
What if we told you to focus on just one simple thing?
What if this one thing could make delighting and surprising customers easy?
Because... just think... what if getting this one critical thing ring could finally give you the eCommerce success you've been after?
Well by the end of this article you'll realise it's actually much simpler than you might think.
Our clients have had skyrocketing success by implementing this tactic and so can you.
So without much further ado, let's get to it.
The one thing to get right is...
Your Category Page!
This is what you need to nail!
You might think it is simple.
But let us tell you….
After working on a bunch of eCommerce SEO campaigns over the years, this is the page that not only delivers the biggest bang for buck... but is also one of the biggest sticking points to eCommerce success.
If you keep reading, you will discover how we improve category pages to drive more traffic and convert that traffic into more sales. This guide will teach you:
Category pages are the signboards for the online shopping world.
It’s like browsing aisles in Coles, Bunnings or your favourite supermarket. Think how easy it is to go to a retail store, find whatever you want to buy and purchase it.
They are easy to navigate, you know where to find stuff and you know where and how to checkout.
They make the shopping experience smooth and intuitive. Your customers will get a great user experience, they will remain engaged and will be more likely to shop again and again.
Category pages offer the same benefit.
They make the product pages discoverable. (learn more about product page SEO here)
With the help of breadcrumb navigation, internal linking, and having well-defined subcategories and product pages, you make indexing easier. You also send page authority to the important pages.
And all that ties in perfectly with the key metrics an eCommerce company needs to focus on:
First, let's talk about what site architecture is:
Site architecture represents how your website is organised.
Why is this bad?
Simple.
All this will affect your ranking on search engines.
Here’s another resource by Moz which explains this point
Source: MOZ
Source: MOZ
Source: SEMrush
Source: Dinarys
A quick test to figure out whether your site has good architecture or not is by asking yourself simple questions:
If you answered yes, fantastic!
If you are unsure, test it yourself.
And you will have your answer.
If you answered no, here are 3 things you can do to improve the site architecture.
Avoid numbers and make them readable. For example:
Here are some valuable resources on building a sitemap:
Website architecture is important for your online store’s performance.
If you don’t have experience in this field, it might be worthwhile talking to a professional. They can help you figure out the best way to configure your website. Learn more about our eCommerce SEO services here.
Page layout is the way of arranging and presenting information to the users.
A good layout is designed to draw attention to the most important parts.
People don’t read text.. they skim the text.
According to Nielsen Norman Group, 79% of users only scan the page or screen.
The above are the 4 types of Eye Tracking patterns.
Without delving too much into the science of it, we will give you the key takeaways:
According to Hubspot, 55% of your visitors spend less than 15 seconds on your website.
With our attention span dwindling, that doesn’t seem too crazy. So when you have only 15 seconds to make an impression, creating a good layout is the way to go!
Source: LingsCars.com
The header section of the website typically includes:
The navigation bar helps users orient themselves on the website. And they can locate what they are looking for. It improves the stickiness and users are more likely to stay engaged when they visit the site.
A navigation bar can be of two types: Horizontal and Vertical
It is the most common type of navigation and lists the common categories side-by-side.
For example - this is a link from Shein. They also use a dropdown navigation menu to include subcategories. This tactic makes the UI clutter-free.
Source: Amazon
eCommerce giant, Amazon uses vertical navigation. The navigation is tucked away neatly until you click on it.
There’s no consensus on the best type of navigation bar. You can use the one which best suits your website. Users are more familiar with horizontal nav bars and it feels more natural.
Use vertical navigation:
Use horizontal navigation if:
Breadcrumb navigation - it tells the users which page they are on and helps them jump to different content based on their preference
It is a great way to improve ranking and keep your users engaged.
Example of breadcrumb navigation :
This example from Asos shows Breadcrumb navigation which is:
Home > Women > Occasionwear > Wedding Guest
“The subject of colour seems to have almost endless ramifications
and to touch upon life in almost every quarter, for colour is rich in lore,
rich in meaning and purpose.”
– Faber Birren
You may already know different colours evoke different emotions.
There are feminine colours and masculine colours. And the colours you use on your website really matter! Use colours strategically to evoke emotions and the industry you are in.
For example:
Black denotes strength, authority and elegance. It is commonly used for high-end products like Luxury cars
White denotes perfection, innocence, cleanliness and faith.
Red represents passion, love, leadership and courage.
Blue represents professionalism, trust, calm and stability.
Source: Wordstream
To learn more about Colour Psychology, visit these links -
https://www.colorpsychology.org/
https://99designs.com.au/blog/creative-inspiration/psychology-color-web-design/
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/psychology-of-color/
With more understanding of this topic, you can use colours to improve your marketing efforts.
Using top categories segmented by popular products, bestsellers, new arrivals and products on sale is another way to improve conversions.
You can use bestsellers from different categories to pique customers’ interest. Or you could use related categories within easy reach for the user.
Source: Transcosmos
Source: Amazon
Source: Amazon
Source: Anaconda
Anaconda does this well too. They offer an option to “Shop by Category” and showcase the latest specials just below this link.
The main purpose of feature banners is to highlight a limited-time promo or sale.
It conveys a value proposition to the user, provides a CTA button and adds a visual appeal. It works for promoting special offers and discounts.
For example, these two pictures from Amazon, show feature banners in the categories of Books and Electronics.
Their placement above the fold draws attention and piques interest.
Source: Anaconda
Things to consider:
Your content can clarify any doubts your customers can have.
The description for your category pages needs to be relevant. It should explain the product and clarify any doubts the customers might have.
For category names like Electronics, Books, or Clothing, it is self-descriptive and easy to understand
But if you offer something your customers may not be aware of, write additional content that can educate your customers.
Bonus tip:
Include these options for more conversions
For a detailed guide on on-page optimisation visit our "On-page SEO Strategies for eCommerce" guide.
Here Shein offers customers an ability to filter on the basis of category, size, colour, material and more.
The “heart” icon below products offers customers to add products in their wishlist.
Recently viewed or Browsing related personalisation - This delivers products based on the customer’s interest. It delivers targeted information and improves user engagement.
Like colour, typography is important to communicate your message. It creates a sense of balance on the website between the content and graphics.
It improves legibility and makes the website aesthetically pleasing.
Typography has different elements like:
Without delving too much into detail, we will summarise how to focus on this:
Note:
According to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, there should be a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text, and 3:1 for large, bolded text
Category pages educate users about complex products and help them learn about different features or functions.
In some cases, educating customers is important. But in some instances, the customer might not need any information regarding a category. And would prefer to directly see the products. For example, clothing.
So category pages are generally of three types:
The customer already has the intent to buy.
In this example, I have picked up a PLP from Myer - I have searched for “black shoes” on Google - it is a clear “intent to buy” and have gone to this page which shows “all black shoes” offered by Myer.
Here’s an example of CLP from Myer:
Another example of a CLP is on the Anaconda website.
They have a traditional category listing page and include different categories like:
If you check the Camping and Hiking page, you can see multiple sub-categories under it like:
You can also see the different brands, Camping buying guides, Hiking buying guides and 4WD & Caravan buying guides.
If you're interested in more ways to product content like this we've got a great guide that teaches you how to create Blog content that builds an eCommerce store's brand.
You may already know the importance of creating search engine-friendly URLs.
According to John Mueller from Google, URLs are identifiers for content. So keep the format simple:
www.example.com/category
www.example.com/category/subcategory
www.example.com/women/clothing/dresses/
Avoid changing the URL structure and keep in mind the relationship between parent/child.
If you have come this far, you already know the role user experience plays in improving user engagement. People won’t return to the website if they face a bad experience. Keeping this in mind, here are a few things you need to consider when optimising your website:
Select the correct category keywords for your category pages.
You can use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to figure out what users are searching for.
Consider the search volume and searcher’s intent and map out topics that can be under a particular keyword.
Include broad keywords and keywords with high transactional intent to encourage shoppers to convert. Once you have researched the keywords related to your industry, you need to map out the pages which need to be under a particular category.
Keyword research isn’t a one-time thing though.
Conduct keyword research regularly, consider trends and seasonal things to identify new opportunities.
To learn more view our full guide to learn "What the best types of eCommerce Keywords are to Target for SEO"
We cannot stress this enough! Content is so important for your website.
A creative copy can handle a user’s objection and help them make a decision.
Your content can include:
Using content and guides helps Google understand the context behind a page. It builds up your authority on a topic. All in all, it means you get brownie points from Google and your customers.
Lastly, do not forget to optimise H1, H2, H3, meta title and meta description, and image alt description on your category pages.
Ensure you are linking to related categories, sub-categories and popular categories.
You can also link to your best selling products.
As a rule of thumb:
For more information, read our full eCommerce Link Building Guide.
You can add structured data on your category pages to get more Google juice on your website. It directly affects your page ranking and may help you feature rich snippets.
For category pages, we recommend you add:
According to Google, you should use markup for products and not a category or list of products. So although you should be using product Product schema, it shouldn’t be added for category pages.
For more information, check out these links:
Schema.org
Understand how structured data works?
General structured data guidelines
If you don’t test, you won’t know. You need to know if your changes are helping your website’s performance.
So how do you achieve this?
Simple - by regular testing.
Google Optimise is a free tool that can help you perform tests and personalise every user’s experience. You can create custom landing pages for your visitors an
You can use any other tool like this to test:
Once you have set up tests, track the data using Google Analytics.
You can track metrics like:
But this is not a one-time thing.
You need to keep testing and refining your strategy.
If you're looking for a SEO provider have a look at our eCommerce Services outline here.
If you like what you see and how we work with clients then we'd be happy to get together for a bit of a chat and discuss your project, opportunity and the current state of your site.
The best way to get in touch is to request a free quote, speak to one of our eCommerce Specialists and map out a plan for your store.
Click the button below to request a free quote.